No more lonely nightsBaby, that's just what you told me(That’s what you said) But you're nowhere to be foundSomething just ain't right'Cause I can't get you to hold meEven when you're around.

What happened to the "I Love You"sThe hugs and kisses and the rendezvous'

Once again have chosen to use Craft Artist Professional 2 to make a digital iCard. chose to make one in a chalkboard style.

The front of the iCard with the lyrics. I made the border within the bottom banner from a flourish and added a smaller flourish butterfly to the top larger flourish.

Back of the iCard showing the Challenge number, the date created and the words needed to use, also where the lyrics came from.

I do hope you like the chalkboard effect, looking forward to reading your comments.

There is some good news, the printer i’m after is being reduced in price in January in the sales so am waiting until then to get it! Am looking forward to printing off all my cards and being able to see them all together.

This is a huge moment in my crafting life as this is the FIRST DT I have ever been on!!!

It will feel a little odd for the first few Challenges not to enter as this is what I am used to doing but I feel honoured to be on a DT alongside some very talented ladies Ingrid, Donna and Keren and am hopeful they will help me to settle in. Thank you to Pamellia and Nikki for their inspiration and encouraging comments, hope you both have wonderful crafting adventures ahead.

It was Keren who got me interested in the Challenges so I have to say a HUGE Thank You to her for giving me the inspiration to enter. After I did the first one I was hooked realising I like making speedy cards very much.

Please try to come over and play along sometime, speedy projects can be fun and am looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Sunday, 26 October 2014

I do hope you can find the time to join in with the wonderful challenges which are being set over at the Speed Challenge Blog it really is a fun way to spend 15 minutes. Pop over to the blog for the full list of rules using the link above.

The rules have had a slight change, instead of 10 minutes we are now allowed 15 minutes, it’s a woohoo from me lol!

Halloween is getting more popular every year and i took inspiration from Keren Baker for this challenge, she said that smaller is easier for time challenges, this set me off thinking about making a mini wreath as i wanted to do something a little different from making a card.

Here are my ingredients:

Didn’t know which tin of the spectrum Noir pencils to use so got them all. Used kraft card to stamp onto for the images of 3 In A round from Stampotique. The ribbons were cut into 3 inch pieces, used orange, black and purple. Florist thin wire to make the circle and add the central image.

I glued the two images together, added the holes for the wire to go through and made the circle from the florist wire before i set the stopwatch off. AS you can see i also added one piece of ribbon to check this size was correct before cutting out the amount i needed.

Coloured the images in very quickly using the spectrum Noir pencils, coloured around the edge with an Artiste ink pad, distressed the edges with a Prima tool added the ribbon which was a challenge in itself, then added a drop of rainbow glaze to the eyes to add a little dimension.

Finally added the wire to the image and attached it to the wreath.

Front of the wreath.

Back of the wreath.

Macro of the stamping and the eyes. I heated the Rainbow Glaze as there was no time for the glaze to dry naturally which made it bubble up and ended up adding even more texture.

The diameter of the mini wreath is two inches or 5 cm across.

Didn’t look at the stopwatch as i was positive i wasn’t going to make this in 15 minutes, i surprised myself when i saw the time it took.

Am hoping you can see the possibilities for making your own mini wreaths using the colours of your choice for Christmas and other festivities.

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Saturday 18th October 2014 was an amazing day spent with some lovely people and an amazing inspirational textile artist called Anne Brooke.

I couldn’t have wished for a lovelier venue than was provided by Linda at Creative Threads Workshop. The church hall was wonderfully lit and airy and Linda had made us some wonderful cake to consume during the day. Thank you so much Linda, i will be back for more!

Linda ironing our inner pieces onto Vilene, she did a fabulous job and saved us all a lot of time.

Until now my new affair with threads and fabrics has been quite basic and am still learning to sew a straight line. When i tried free motion embroidery it was freeing and not too difficult as i had been doing the same movements using my Embellisher.

When i saw the workshop i booked immediately, i have been an Anne fan for a little while, got to meet her at Art In The Pen in Skipton and bought one of her pieces which will hang in my workshop. Anne’s style is something i would like to aspire to, seed heads and natural colours. Anyway more about the course…

Course title was Collage Boxes Workshop, we received a list of materials and it took me ages to decide what to take, eventually i took one bag with papers, one bag with fabric and my sewing machine.

For the eagle eyed there is a platform under my machine which was made by my OH, i will blog this seperately.

Out of respect for Anne i will not show a step by step of how the boxes are made but the final sides in macro and then the completed box in full.

Hope you can see where i used tea bags and some Tim Holtz die cuts, a couple of leaves from Darcy, material from an old top and buttons from my stash. Used Madeira and Marathon polyester thread, some wallpaper Anne had brought and the sequin material was from my friend J who came with me. Added Linda from Stampotique who has been coloured using Spectrum Noir pencils, had to add something from Stampotique!

Am hopeful that this picture heavy post has given you a flavour of the workshop and will encourage you to book onto one of Anne’s or Linda’s workshops sometime. I have already booked for Anne’s next workshop with Linda in March 2015, OH has paid it is one of my Xmas presents, thank you G.

Hope you enjoyed your visit today and have time to leave a comment. Thanks for dropping by.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

I have an eye infection, nothing serious but very very annoying which has kept me from visiting as many of your lovely Blogs as i normally visit. If you haven’t had any comments from me it’s because i have to rest my eyes for a few days, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Hello to my new Followers, thank you for popping by and deciding to follow, nearly at the magic 100, thinking of what to do to celebrate!

Over at the Craft Barn the latest Challenge is to use the words Destiny or Gift, haven’t been able to research much to find a quote or lyric so instead have made two digital iCards one for each word.

The above iCard sized digital creations have been created using Craft Artist Professional software. The link takes you to their You Tube channel where you can find their tutorials if you are interested.

The above iCards are for the word Destiny. They read:

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”

Albert Schweitzer

My mind is on using tea bags at the moment so chose the theme of a Tea Room to best show how to serve a good cup of tea.

Been playing with blending images into the background, above is the result.

The face is one i drew a couple of weeks ago, i am not good at drawing but i think she looks great blended into the background.

For the word Gift i found this quote:

“In the tapestry of life, we’re all connected. Each one of us is a gift to those around us, helping each other be who we are, weaving a perfect picture together.”

Anita Moorjani

The sheep are representing the tapestry and weaving of life, the flowers and bees represent Nature and the face represents Human Beings. We are all interconnected and i love this particular quote very much.

Friday, 10 October 2014

Corrie is our hostess for todays challenge and here is what she's said:

Today it is my turn to host the Challenge and I would like you to use book text. This is such a versatile material and when I get a bit stuck, I regularly reach for an old book to use the pages. I think everybody has an old book or magazine lying around to use. I can't wait to see what you come up with, but most of all have fun creating !!!

I am also entering this card into the latest Speed Challenge which has a theme of using ink sprays or spritzers.

I am really pleased as i won The Speed Challenges first ever challenge and am happy to display the winners badge. There were only two of us who entered so also won the top three badge, a lovely moment even it was won by default lol.

PLEASE come on over and join in the fun at BOTH of these wonderful challenges, hope to see you there.

Corrie’s challenge to use book pages was the spark i needed to create my card for the Speed Challenge also, here are my supplies but i did add to them.

I die cut both the doily die from Sizzix from a book page and the Tattered Lace flowers die before the stopwatch was set, i learned from last weeks challenge it took three minutes out of the ten just to die cut, didn’t want to lose time again.

I purchased a few new items from the Happy Stampers North West Show one of which are the Inkadinks by Imagination Crafts.

Instead of using alcohol inks i experimented with the Inkadinks which re water based, they work very well and polish up once dry with a soft cloth. Used the Bright Set as it was the only set they had brought with them to the show. Wanted to keep the background quite soft and muted.

I also added Copper and Gold Ranger Alcohol Mixatives to add a small amount of shine to the background.

The next layer was created using Mushroom DecoArt multi-purpose paint through a TCW Stencil called Mini Rosetta by Rebekah Meier. Heat dried each layer and buffed again.

Chose Darcy’s EDY05 small bobble grass as a border for the tile as i do love the frond like effect it gives. Used Archival Ink to stamp onto the tile as the Inkadinks are water based not alcohol based, also wanted crisp images to pop off the tile.

Treated myself to one of the new Hotpicks 1301EZ and that wonderful large butterfly collage stamp to be the main focal point.

Added colour to the grass and butterfly using Kaiserfusion Alcohol pens. Edged the tile with Treasure Gold Renaissance, had a couple of accidents as you can see near the corners with finger prints, just going with the it…

Sealed the tile with Windsor and Newton Matt Varnish which has given a lovely finish, i will seal this again using a heat resistant varnish.

The tile has no backing as yet as not decided if it going indoors or outside.

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Over at the wonderful Claudine Criner’s blog we are up to week six out of 26 weeks of altering playing cards. Please come and join in, it is a wonderful challenge and is helping me to use items i wouldn’t normally think of using.

This week Claudine has got us to use Halloween as out theme, i don’t own most of the supplies Claudine has so am using my own and trying to cobble something together from there.

The background of both cards have been gessoed, this one has a swirl design in the background which i thought would go well with the witch’s spells card.

Used Pan Pastels on the background then sprayed with Cosmic shimmer sprays, sealed both layers with hair spray.

Added some decoupage images that i found i still owned, thought i had thrown all these away as i didn’t get on well with decoupage. Have used only 1 layer and gave the body a pumpkin head and then added the hat. Her cat is trying to talk with the bird not eat it, remember there are spells being cast all the time so they can talk with each other.

Made the background the same as the one above and added the bird image from a book called Beyond The Deepwoods which has some wonderful drawings in it. The book was one i purchased from a local library when they throw them away.

Friday, 3 October 2014

Tough challenge this one, never read through so many quotes or lyrics to get here. I think this is the second toughest challenge for me but i finally got there just before the challenge closes tomorrow.

If you pop over to the Craft Barn Blog and have a look at the fabulous entries i am sure you will be tempted to join in, it’s never too late!

Went digital again as i enjoy creating in Craft Artist Professional 2. Used a few different digi kits, a few brushes and styles, added a little decoupage on the words and on the birds. If you can see the glass style that has been applied to the quote you can see how it lifts off the page, well i hope it does lol.

Used a brick wall digiboss file to add some texture which i hope you can see and added stitching to the edges. Have added You Tube videos today instead of links to the kits in the hope you will see how easy it is to create using this wonderful programme.

The back of the iCard sized image.

Still no printer but hopefully will be getting a replacement very soon.

Thank you to everyone who pops by and leaves a comment or not, hope you enjoyed your visit today.

xxx

May i apologise to Fiona Spain whose name i incorrectly used, i still go and look at your and any other entries that are on FB as i love to see all the entries.

Please note i do not get any payment or any freebies for adding any links in my Blog.

Thursday, 2 October 2014

I am enjoying altering Playing Cards over at the lovely Claudine Criner’s blog. Claudine is hosting this challenge and has a Facebook page especially for you to post your APC’s there. If you don’t do FB then you post the link to your cards into the comment area for that particular week.

See the link to her challenge on the left hand side bar if you are viewing this on your laptop.

It is one of those challenges that pulls you in, Claudine is very generous with her tutorials and has shown us how to make some amazing backgrounds and her creations are always full of inspiration.

This week 5 is all about muted colours, layering and collage.

Here are my attempts:

Two gessoed cards, one with a pattern.

Blade Runner stamps i chose to use but had to use another image for my second card as the little girl image wasn’t the right shape or size for what i wanted to make.

Card 7.

Card 8.

I am quite pleased with how they turned out, not my style but i have learnt from the challenge, so thank you Claudine for another wonderful week.

I'm so excited to host the challenge this week as it's one I'm always struggling with. In a home where the males outweigh the females, you wouldn't think it would take much to create a masculine card, but it's something I have a hard time doing every time I sit down to make one. I challenge you to show me your best masculine cards this week-are they ones that come naturally to you or do you draw a blank when you need to create one as well?

Can't wait to see all the possibilities you come up with this week!

Forgot to take any pictures this week so here is the finished card.

I quite enjoy making masculine cards because i don’t see any reason why males don’t like flowers or chocolate or abstract art. Not all men are macho and need to have football/rugby/cars/motorbikes images on their cards.

I chose to show that men can make their families dream many things, mostly to keep their Partners happy and to share happy moments together. This card should convey how much they are appreciated.